A Blogger’s First Christmas

I’ve been away from blogging and my computer in general for many days now. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Tuesday

Last Tuesday was my grandpa’s birthday so after work I went to Red Lobster with my family. I had only been there once a couple years ago! Happy Birthday Grandpa!

  1/2 Cheddar biscuit

Tossed salad with Oil & Vinegar

Garlic Shrimp with Rice Pilaf and Asparagus (I finished half and took the rest home)

Wednesday

Wednesday was yet another busy day. In the morning, my mom and I headed down to the spa for pedicure’s and facial’s! Remember we went for massages a few weeks ago? Well we had to finish up the rest of our gift certificates before they expired so we squeezed it into our schedule hehe. Then in the afternoon we finished up some very last minute christmas shopping. All that running around required re-fueling with an applie pie larabar :)

My mom had also planned to have our annual “kids dinner” that night so there was no rest for the weary! She likes to have a dinner with all of us a couple days before christmas so we have time together that isn’t hectic.  My brothers requested enchiladas so I helped my mom make them plus I made guacamole which as usual turned out delicious! I love love love guac. I broke out 2 bags of Food Should Taste Good chips to try out (full review of the flavors I received coming soon).

That’s not sour cream! It’s plain greek yogurt! (Perfect sour cream substitute)

Thursday

Back to work. Oh I also forgot to mention that Monday-Thursday last week I made sure to go to the gym every morning! Making use of that 1 month membership :)

OIAJ for breakfast

Spinach and Bell Pepper salad for lunch

Pineapple with Yogurt for lunch (Chobani hidden underneath!)

Leftover shrimp, cauliflower & carrots, + a huge pile of sweet potato mashed with cinnamon

Raf came around dinner time so afterwards we headed to the movies to see Black Swan. It looked so good in the preview and had a great rating on IMDB. However, I found it to be too predictable and Raf hated it. Oh well………

Friday

Christmas Eve! I had to start the day off right :)

I was making homemade presents this year and finally got all my pieces together to start making them. Lavender bath salts for the girls and a spice rub + homemade thin mints for the guys. (Whoever brought the homemade thin mint recipe to the blogger cookie swap – thank you! they turned out great!)

I was busy busy all day! And the best part?

Lena in her Christmas outfit!

The sweater was a little tight but that’s because she’s gained 5 lbs this fall. eek!

We had dinner at my grandparents like we do every year. It was so sad to be just us though. We used to have such huge family celebrations on Christmas eve. Now it’s just my parents and myself (plus Raf this year).

Grandma’s meat pie (It’s a french thing)

Bowl of fruit

There was also a deli platter so I had some meat and cheese (no bread).

Mass was at 10pm and not many people came. What do they expect from older people? They don’t want to come out that late. My church is mostly elderly which shouldn’t be a surprise. There really is no one my age and only a handful of younger people. I sang “Oh Holy Night” and even with the few people there I could feel heat radiating from my face because I was so nervous. I love to sing but get nervous every time! I just can’t help it. After all was said and done though, I was fine.

Saturday

Merry Christmas! We opened presents at my house and then headed over to my brother’s for our family gathering.

Breakfast smorgasboard! French toast strata, Egg strata, homemade hash, etc.

I got some really awesome gifts this year including:

Did everybody get what the wanted for Christmas? I sure did!

Sunday

Most of my day was spent babysitting my nephew. No pictures snapped! Also the blizzard in the northeast started!

Monday

Snowed in! I was supposed to go to work today but there is so much snow blowing around. The wind is a big issue today causing all kinds of drifts. I’m now home and haven’t quite decided what to do with my day. Work in internship applications perhaps?

Banana oatmeal with almonds for breakfast

Maybe I’ll even pull out the snowshoes for this afternoon!